Deep and Crisp and Even – The Legend of Good King Wenceslas by Andrew Beattie
£19.00 incl. zero VAT
The Christmas Quartet – Play 1
The approximate running time of this play is 20 minutes.
This play is for a small cast and requires no scenery, so it could be easily performed in a church as well as a school.
Deep and Crisp and Even tells the story of a Bohemian king braving harsh winter weather to give alms to a poor peasant “on the Feast of Stephen” – St Stephen’s Day (December 26th). The king’s page boy accompanies him as he journeys towards the peasant’s home. The carol Good King Wenceslas is sung at the end of the play.
Description
The boy finds it hard to struggle through the snow and is about to give up; but the king tells the boy that it will be easier for him if he treads in the footprints that he has already made, and the boy is able to continue. The figure at the centre of this legend is a tenth century ruler of Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) known to English speakers as Wenceslas I.
This is a short play for a small cast (7 speaking parts) and could be bolted together with another play from The Christmas Quartet to give more children the opportunity to participate and to give a longer performance time.
